[3] She was among the first to be entered into the Young Talent department of the Amsterdam Conservatory in 1998, where she received the guidance of Erika Waardenburg.

[3] Her aunt's close associate Karlheinz Stockhausen[4] composed a harp duet for Smit and Esther Kooi, Freude, which premiered on June 7, 2006 in the Milan Cathedral.

[5] They continued to perform it at many venues including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam in 2007, and the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London in 2008.

Marianne Smit passed her Bachelor's exam cum laude in June 2007 with an honour for “special artisticity in the field of contemporary music”.

[3] Smit has participated in audition training with Petra van der Heide, a harpist with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.